Pictorial

#38: Lowbrow & Pop Surrealism

May 18th, 2021 · 27 minutes

Betty shares the style and history of lowbrow art, otherwise known as pop surrealism. They examine a unique version of Katy Perry, and Quinn has a cynical take on the underground-to-art-museum cycle.

#37: Enwonwu's Tutu

May 4th, 2021 · 31 minutes

How does a priceless piece of Nigerian art disappear, only to be found decades later in a London apartment? Honestly, we're still not quite sure, but Ben Enwonwu and his masterpiece portrait Tutu are fun to talk about anyway.

#36: Song Dong

April 20th, 2021 · 34 minutes

After bringing up his work in a few previous episodes, we finally dive into the Chinese contemporary artist Song Dong. Betty walks Quinn through several of his major pieces, including Waste Not and Communal Courtyard.

#35: Playbill Design Throughout History

April 6th, 2021 · 38 minutes

This week we're diving into the history of Playbill design, with diversions along the way into Pantone codes, gradients, and minimalist graphic design.

#34: No But Really, What Are NFTs?

March 23rd, 2021 · 52 minutes

Not only does Quinn have no idea what NFTs are, she doesn't understand blockchain or cryptocurrency... at all. Today Betty's giving them a crash course on what Non-Fungible Tokens are, and what they have to do with someone setting a Banksy painting on fire and then selling it for $380,000.

#33: Internet Art of the 1990s

March 9th, 2021 · 30 minutes

Quinn found a book about internet art published in 2004, and she's really excited about it. Today we're talking about what defined the early net.art movement, and artists like jodi.org and Olia Lialina who pushed the boundaries of what online art could be in 1995.

#32: Piet Mondrian

February 23rd, 2021 · 35 minutes

This week, we're taking one step deeper into the study of abstract art by examining Piet Mondrian. What historical events, religious beliefs, and settings influenced him to develop his famous style of primary color blocks and black lines?

#31: Attempting to Understand Abstraction

February 9th, 2021 · 35 minutes

We've talked before about some abstract artists we like: but why is abstract art valued as fine art at all? We take a look at the patterns behind how abstract artists develop their unique styles and the deceptive complexity of their work.

#30: Elisabetta Sirani

January 26th, 2021 · 35 minutes

Quinn and Betty dive into the life and work of Elisabetta Sirani, a groundbreaking Italian Baroque painter. Along the way, they discover that they will be dying soon due to lack of marriage, so that's exciting!

#29: Experiential Art

January 5th, 2021 · 30 minutes

Betty and Quinn talk about the art exhibit they visited when they first met, Marta Minujín's Menusunda Reloaded, as well as other experiential art pieces.

This episode was supposed to come out last week, which is why we reference it being the "last episode of 2020." Oops!